Wildlife, feral cats damage Branford trailers

Jennifer Swift

Published 12:00 am, Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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Branford-- Diane Lane, a resident in the Shoreline Mobile Trailer Park, stands in front of one of the 8 mobile homes that are vacant and overrun with feral cats according to Lane. Photo-Peter Casolino 1/16/13

Branford-- Diane Lane, a resident in the Shoreline Mobile Trailer Park, stands in front of one of the 8 mobile homes that are vacant and overrun with feral cats according to Lane. Photo-Peter Casolino 1/16/13

Wildlife, feral cats damage Branford trailers

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BRANFORD -- When Diane Lane lies awake in bed at night, she can hear the animals that have burrowed into her trailer, eating away at insulation and wires.

The mobile home park that she and dozens of others call home is overrun with feral cats and wildlife, unkempt land and facilities and several abandoned trailers, Lane and her neighbors say.

Families of skunks, opossums and rats have been removed from under her trailer and her neighbors, but cats and other animals have burrowed their way into heating and air conditioning ducts.

Residents also have complained about the condition of the park itself, at 525 E. Main St. When a light snow blanketed the park recently, puddles in the roadway froze and animals hid inside an abandoned trailer.

Its windows have been knocked out, and it has been marked for demolition for years, Lane said.

"It's an ongoing problem, it's a cycle. People's trailers deteriorate, the animals burrow in and then people can't afford to fix their trailer.

They can't move them, so they leave them," she said. "Animals get in there and the problems keep growing."

Lane and other vocal residents who have tried to get help to fix the park were met with eviction notices as retribution, she said.

Paul Alfano, a park resident who said his home has been ruined by the cats, said the issue with feeding the feral cats is it brings additional wildlife into the park.

"It's not just the cats that are the problem. We aren't against feeding cats, we don't want them to suffer. It's the issues feeding them brings -- the other animals that come here and are dependent for food here," he said.

The park has notified the Branford Compassion Club that members are not permitted to feed the feral cats in the park any longer.

Club founder Eunice LaSala said for 15 years members have picked up, spayed and neutered cats. She has said she fears the cats will be euthanized or abandoned in the park if the club can't help.

Lane, however, says the cat problem has only grown over the years, and the proper way to manage a colony of feral cats is not being followed.

Either way, the park management has done nothing to address the problem, she said.

Park management could not be reached for comment on this story or previous stories.

Attorney Thomas Lonardo, representing the park, also could not be reached for comment. In a Nov. 28 letter, Lonardo told members of the Compassion Club they are not permitted "to enter the park property for the purposes of providing food, shelter or any other assistance or encouragement to the feral cats on the property."

A spokesperson for the Office of Consumer Protection said there have been six complaints about the condition of the park, including the presence of cats, pests and other park maintenance issues.

The department was investigating if the mobile home park owners were in violation of a Connecticut statute that requires a park owner to keep a park free of pests.

The spokesperson could not speak about the status of the investigation, only to say that the Trade Practices Division and Legal Division are reviewing the case file to "determine an appropriate course of action."

Branford police Capt. Geoffrey Morgan said the number of calls the department responds to at the park is "proportional" to the number of people who live there.

They respond to complaints like they would in any neighborhood, including animal complaints, disputes, burglaries and other matters, he said.

Lane said she and others are planning to ask the town for help because they have not received satisfactory results at the state level.

Residents of a different mobile home park had asked the Branford Representative Town Meeting to form a Fair Rent Commission. Though the idea was explored, the town opted for mediation between the mobile home park residents and the owners.

Lane said she plans to again ask the town to form a Fair Rent Commission.

"We can't live like this. We come here, we pay for our trailers, we take care of them and then they are ruined.